The Hidden Blessing of Infertility

Over at Christianity Today, Karen Swallow Prior wrote about an often-difficult topic: the hidden blessing of infertility.

My husband and I decided that further procedures were off the table. Although we are Baptists, we believe in the principles set forth in the Catholic Church’s Donum Vitae (“The Gift of Life”), which distinguishes between medical interventions that assist the marital union in achieving pregnancy and interventions that replace the procreative marital act. We agree with the distinction made by some Christian ethicists and theologians between procreation and reproduction: While reproduction can be achieved any number of ways, procreation takes place in the mystery of two bodies becoming one flesh and producing another body.

These were our convictions. In adhering to them, I was ready to cope with what would be lost in doing so. I never imagined what would be gained.